Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1887-04-30

| into tears.
| There were dozen people IN the
house. All were listening and all look.
ING with rude curiosity.
The house seemed cramped. Bow
ers said: Lets 20 outdoors" All
went.
No sooner had they arrived in the
| yard than the wife went to Bowers
and threw her arms about him.
! Vt this whatever manliness there
was IN Hamrick came to the surface
! and asserted itself He said: IN
tell YOU what III do. people; don't
want to make no disturbance and III
go rlghtback where came from"
That was all he said. The crowd
iialf spoke, half nodded assent TO the
, proposition and plan in one. Right
| there, under the trees, the matter was
liked a. ii III court before iurv.
ilamrick SAID he was satisfied, and
declared that this time he would 90
'1Or good" He told the people. his
wife, his children, all good-by. Only
the vile cried. not through any sen
/ timentalliy about the situation, but
out OF pure emotion and desire to
do her duty in her own simple way.
There was, nevertheless, in the sit.
! uaton, Is in the subject, everything
that the most ardent novelist could
desire, and yet to these people all was
a TACT, 4 hard fact, without possibly
the barcSt suggestion OF sentiment.
The neighbors did not spread the
news very much outside their own cir
Gle, and the affair was n mere matter
otneighborhoOd talk. Noone thought
that the law would ever step in. But
step III 1t did. in a way just as roman.
tie, though Just as real, as everything
else.
A neighhor oil Bowers had what in
that country is known as "faIline
OUT with him, about n cider-press.
Ont OF these trivial affairs grow quar-
rels, harsh words. nay. blood letting
and even homicides. not infreuuentlv.
This time Bowers newt made enemy
was OF another stamp OF man. lie
knew OF the Hamrick matter. but a few
months before settled. So last Octo-
ber he went to the county seat and
there gave to the Solicitor or a grand
Juryman the information that Bow.
erS was violating the statute by un.
lawfully living witha n woman. and that
tnat woman had also violated the
Jaw IN committing bigamy.
Now here was q situation. Bow
ers and his wife were arrested and
senator Elias, a lawyer of repute in
all that region. was sought TO defend
them. The husband, who had given
bond tor his appearance at court,
rode many miles after Lawyer Eli
as and told him the whole story.
The lawyer, a man of culture, was
astonished at the story thus unrolled
before his very eyes. Court met and
the lawyer used all his eloquence and
persuasiveness. He told the whole
story-of the deserted wife, the long
vigil OF love, the giving up of the first
husband for dead, the remarriage. the
return OF the long-lost husband, the
verbal agreement that he should re-
turn to the far Northwest and all re.
main as it was.
The narrative had its effect upon the
rudest mind; but the law had techni-
cally, unknowingly been violated; it
must be technically enforced So there
was technical verdict of guilty, with
a recommendation to the mercy of the
court if the parties lived separate and
apart.
This was Lawyer Elias chance, his
opportunity; he seized it. He told
Bowers that he and his wife had best
60 out of that neighborhood, and that
they might live together: that the
verdict was only technical, and the
judgment mere form, and that in
the future the law would not again
disturb them.
They acted on the suggestion. re-
moved to Macon county, and now live
there at peace with the world. Only
n few weeks ago the son was married,
and in the spring the girl will become
a bride.
So Senator Elias told the story, a
true story in all particulars, which has
in it all the elements of the fanciiul and
and yet Just as true as thefact,
known of all men. tnat the great peaks
OF the Blue Ridge raise themselves
skyward in Western North Carolina.